One of the key benefits of hard copy mail is it is harder to throw away. Unlike emails.

So with this thought in mind, take a look at how these marketers deliver the message that can’t be ignored.

Father Flanagan’s Boystown is doubling down on their request at our household after they received a modest donation last fall.

This lumpy package delivered 2 notepads, 7 greeting cards, 1 novelty gift bag, and best of all, just like the old Time Life subscription offers, a ball point pen!

Not surprisingly, they are asking a minimum of $20 for a gift, which is pretty much what they got last time.

Wounded Warrior Project is much simpler in their acquisition package, merely asking for a first time gift of $10.

What is nagging in this kit is their gift of one Purple Heart postage stamp.

Paper-clipped to show through the double window, it is impossible to throw away. But could you use it without sending back a donation?

The March of Dimes continues its efforts with the symbolic gift of a dime. Pocket the money and start the car? Probably not.

Lastly, and possibly the most insistent in a subtle way is the Catholic Relief Services which have enclosed a quarter-sized brass plated Guardian Angel coin. Unlikely that many will show up in a vending machine any time soon.

Generally, the public, and more specifically, the digerati generation snicker at direct mail as a past art.  Something to view under glass.   These marketers can tell you otherwise, and to that end enjoy their day in your mail box.

The driving force in each of these packages is an indispensable gift.   It trades on these principles:

1.   What will you give in return?

2.   You have a branded token to remind you.

3.   You can’t use the gift without breaking a trust.

And for the stingiest curmudgeon, the hardest rogue, the admission: “AAARRRGGHH, I can’t throw the D$$%^^## thing out!

And therein is the value of direct mail.